The number of foreign nationals living in the Czech Republic on a long-term basis is growing; 1,094,090 were registered at the end of 2024, up by 2.7% from a year earlier, according to the Interior Ministry’s quarterly report on migration.
The share of foreign nationals in the total population reached 10% last December. According to the report, the largest national contingent living in the Czech Republic are citizens of Ukraine (589,456), followed by Slovakia (121,472) and Vietnam (69,015).
As usual, Prague is the region with the highest concentration of people from abroad, with almost one-third of the total number of legally residing foreigners in the country last year. It was followed by the Central Bohemian Region, which had 14.2% of foreign nationals.
There were 332,994 foreign nationals with temporary residence in the Czech Republic last year, and 372,217 with permanent residence.
The number of foreign nationals crossed the one million mark for the first time in 2022, mainly due to the temporary protection granted to people fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine. There were 388,879 people with temporary protection status in the Czech Republic as of 31 December 2024, around 14,000 more than at the end of 2023.
From the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine three years ago until the end of last year, the Czech Republic issued temporary protection to a total of 659,970 people. The Czech Republic has long been the EU country hosting the most Ukrainian refugees per capita. In December, the Czech Republic had about 36 Ukrainian refugees per 1,000 inhabitants, according to the report.
There were 420 people detained while in transit through the Czech Republic illegally last year, 90% fewer than the previous year. Syrian nationals were the most frequent, accounting for more than two-thirds of all those detained, followed by citizens of Turkey, Russia, Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Mongolia, the report said.
The most common method of entering the country was by air, with 219 individuals choosing this option. The vast majority of the cases were flights from Greece, with passengers mostly presenting irregular documents, according to the report.
Some irregular migrants also entered the Czech Republic from Slovakia and Austria. Most often, they were heading for Germany, with smaller numbers heading for the Netherlands or France.
Czech authorities received a total of 1,363 applications for international protection last year. These were most commonly submitted by nationals of Uzbekistan (224), followed by applicants from Ukraine (205), Vietnam (186), Turkey (99) and Russia (91).
A total of 748 people returned to their country of origin last year under the Assisted Voluntary Return Programme organised by the Interior Ministry. The Administration of Refugee Facilities assisted 38 people in their return.
A total of 201 people were forcibly returned from the Czech Republic by the police, mostly to Slovakia, Romania and Ukraine.
